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Prospect Owings making case for callup

Prospect Owings making case for callup

2013 MLB.com Top Prospects: Chris Owings is a solid defensive shortstop with a strong arm

By Steve Gilbert
/
MLB.com |

PHOENIX -- The D-backs will likely bring up some added pitching depth Sunday when rosters expand from 25 to 40, with the rest of the reinforcements coming after the Minor League seasons end next week.

While no final decision has been made, it looks like one of the callups will be Triple-A Reno shortstop Chris Owings, ranked as Arizona's No. 3 prospect by MLB.com.

Owings recently won the Pacific Coast League's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Awards.

"C.O. is a guy that's had a great year," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "He's a guy that you talk about bringing him up. It would be really good to reward him, No. 1, and then it would be good for him to get up here and get the exposure. He's earned it."

Owings was originally drafted out of high school by the D-backs in the supplemental round (41st overall) of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft.

Owings was considered the shortstop of the future before the team acquired Didi Gregorius this past offseason. That didn't phase Owings, who had a slash line of .327/.355/.477 heading into Saturday night's game.

As a way of making him more versatile, he has seen some playing time at second base this year.

"He's got a pretty good future ahead of him," Gibson said. "He's going to fit in here somewhere, sometime, someway, somehow and I think he would be a guy that would benefit from [a September callup], but we haven't made a decision on that yet."